Dæmon
by Renchikara
Summary: AU. How would the Death Note plot differ if the characters had dæmons, parts of their souls that walk outside their bodies in the form of animals? Dæmons are the best way of working out someone's personality, so would this make the Kira case easier to solve?


**This story is inspired by a Bleach fan fic called Souls Without by darkling59, which is also a story about the characters having dæmons. I just thought I'd do a Death Note version, as nobody else seems to have.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

**One**

**Light Yagami**

Mitsuchi settled form at about twelve years of age, which is perfectly normal.

Light and Mitsuchi appeared as your ordinary human and dæmon. She had no problems shape-shifting until it was time to settle into one form for the rest of their lives, like all other dæmons. And until Light was seventeen, they were the average pair. But of course, extremely intelligent. Light was one of the brightest students in the country with perfect grades, an agreeable and rather likeable personality and Mitsuchi was no different. Although, her outward settled appearance as an eagle owl did often imply that the two could be quite formidable, this was really a mark of their intelligence.

On the day that changed their lives, it was Mitsuchi who spotted it first with her sharp, orange owl eyes.

'Look, Light,' she whispered from her perch on her school desk, her gaze fixed on a small object falling from the sky that was easy for her to see but rather difficult for human eyes to pick up.

Light, who was entirely bored with the teacher going on about stuff he already knew replied, 'What is it?'

'There's something falling.'

Light focused his gaze outside the window and as his eyes adjusted to the light he too noticed the small object tumbling from the heavens. The human and dæmon alike watched as the thing (whatever it was) finally hit the ground, where it lay on the grass not far from the building the two were in.

After class, Light made his way down the path out of school, when Mitsuchi swooped down the grass and landed beside a small black notebook. 'This is it,' she announced, looking back up at Light, who strolled over to investigate.

''Death Note'...? As it a notebook of death?'

'So it would seem. Open it up,' Mitsuchi urged.

Light reached down to pick up the notebook, then turned the cover over to find a set of rules written in white ink on the black paper.

'It's in English,' Mitsuchi pointed out as she flew up to land on Light's outstretched arm.

'That's weird. What a pain. Still, I shouldn't have much of a problem.'

''The human whose name is written in the notebook shall die',' Mitsuchi read out, and she ruffled her feathers uncomfortably. 'That's a bit sick, isn't it? A prank, perhaps?'

'Probably. How stupid. Why's everybody so interested in this kind of crap, anyway? Like those dumb chain letters that say you'll get cancer if you don't pass them on...' Light turned a few pages over, analysing them to see if there was anything written in. 'How strange... nothing here... it's not been used.'

'Just leave it here, Light,' Mitsuchi muttered, turning her head gracefully away from the book. 'It's ridiculous.'

Light nodded in agreement with her last statement.

But he stuffed it in his bag anyway.

* * *

''This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his or her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be effected',' Light read out as he sat down at his desk, Mitsuchi flying up to her perch by opposite the lamp. As always, Light's younger sister Sayu and her still unsettled dæmon Arata greeted him and Mitsuchi, Arata purring around the eagle owl in her chocolate-brown domestic cat form.

'This is stupid, Light,' Mitsuchi said scornfully. 'You should just get rid of it.'

''If the cause of death is written within forty seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen'; 'If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack'; 'After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds'.'

'Light, are you even listening to me?'

'Hmm. So you can let people die peacefully or make them suffer,' Light mused. He got up from the chair, still ignoring his dæmon and lay down on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling for a while before his brown irises flickered towards the black notebook on his desk. Mitsuchi rolled her beady orange eyes and Light finally acknowledged her point of view on the matter.

'You're right... write their name in and they die... how stupid...' he finished the sentence with a yawn and decided it was probably best to turn in for the night.

* * *

Five days later, Light and Mitsuchi returned home from school to find Light's mother Sachiko and her dæmon Haruko waiting patiently at the door. Sachiko held her hand out eagerly.

'Oh, yeah...' Light placed his bag on the floor and reached down to get the latest exam results out for his mother to see. He reached up with the paper. 'Here.'

'Oh my! You placed first again- and these practice college exams are nationwide!'

'Uh huh.'

'Well done!' Haruko barked, wagging his tail enthusiastically. Mitsuchi bowed her head modestly and shuffled slightly on her wooden perch beside the door.

'Well, I'll be studying so don't bother me, okay?' Light said as he walked upstairs, Mitsuchi soaring up after him.

'Okay, dear. Oh, Light? Is there's anything you'll been wanting? Anything at all- just let me know.'

'No, Mom.' Light shut his bedroom door behind him and closed his eyes. 'I've already got what I want...' he whispered. Mitsuchi flew over to the desk and switched the TV on by stretching out her talon onto the remote and pressing the red button. Light joined her at the desk and switched the computer on, then reached down for the top draw where he had left the Death Note. He sat down slowly, his eyes fixed on the black notebook as a rather crazed smile crossed over his face.

'Heh... heh heh...'

'You seem to like it.'

Light spun around at the arrival of a new voice and screamed as he came face to face with an inhuman creature stood in the centre of his room, towering over him with monster-like features. Mitsuchi screeched in distress, flapping her wings wildly as her human fell off his chair, gazing in terror at the figure before him.

'Why're you so surprised to see me?' the creature cackled. 'I'm Ryuk, the Shinigami who dropped that notebook.' It stretched out its arm and pointed with a long blacked claw-like finger at the Death Note left on the desk. 'The way you were acting just now, I can tell you know it isn't just _any_ old notebook... right?'

'A... _Shinigami_?!' Light gasped, his eyes open wide. He took a deep breath, his eyes flickering towards his dæmon who stared back fearfully as if waiting for Light to say something. Light closed his eyes, and when they reopened he adopted the calmest expression he could muster.

'A 'Death God'... I'm not surprised to see you, Ryuk.'

The creature looked blankly at him.

'In fact...' Light smiled. '… I've been waiting for you.'

Ryuk seemed surprised himself. 'Really?'

'Gee, a personal visit from a Shinigami... very kind of you...'

'Light?' Mitsuchi stuttered uncertainly.

'Not that I doubted this was a Death God's notebook,' Light continued as if nothing happened. 'But...seeing things with my own eyes like this lets me act with greater certainty. Plus, there're some things I wanted to ask you...' Quickly, Light showed Ryuk an open page of the Death Note where the Shinigami could easily see dozens of names scribbled in on both sides.

'Hee hee... wow, this is amazing. Gotta say, I'm the one who's surprised,' Ryuk grinned. 'I've heard of Death Notes getting down to the human world a few times before... but no one's ever done this many in just five days. Most people would be just too scared.'

'I warned you not to,' Mitsuchi whispered, so quietly that Light could barely hear her.

'I'm ready for anything, Ryuk... I used the notebook, knowing it belonged to a Shinigami... and now the Shinigami's here... What happens to me now...? You take my soul or something?'

'Huh? What's that? Some fantasy you humans came up with? I'm not going to do anything to you.'

Light and Mitsuchi both looked shocked.

'The moment a Death Note lands in the human world, it belongs to the human world,' Ryuk continued. 'So it's yours now.'

'… Mine...'

'You don't want it, give it to another human,' Ryuk said. 'When you do, I'll just have to erase all your Death Note memories. Oh, and...' Ryuk extended with large black wings and swooped out the window in one quick movement, landing on a telegraph pole outside. He perched on top, leering back at Light.

'Since you've used what _was_ my notebook, you're the only one who can see me. Nobody else can hear me, of course. The Death Note... is the bond between Light the human and Ryuk the Shinigami.'

'The bond...' Light repeated. Mitsuchi squawked nervously. 'So there really is no price to pay for using the Death Note?'

Ryuk was silent for a moment as he clambered back through the window into the bedroom, and Mitsuchi looked uneasily at Light. She was always the more cautious of her and Light and she was pretty sure her human was running into this 'deal' a little too quickly.

'… Well, not exactly,' Ryuk said finally. 'But there is the terror and torment that only humans who've used it will experience...'

Light's eyes widened and Mitsuchi shuffled closer to him.

'And, when you die, I'll be the one writing your name down, but... don't think that any human who's used the Death Note can go to heaven or to hell. That's all.'

Light was quiet for quite a long time as these words sunk in, then he began to laugh quietly. Ryuk began to join in with his own throaty chuckles.

'You'll find out about that when you die.'

As the two continued to talk about the fact that they were both bored and needed some sort of release, Mitsuchi scanned around Ryuk with her eagle owl eyes, expecting to see his dæmon somewhere. Was she very small? Was she hiding? How come Mitsuchi couldn't see her?

Light seemed to be thinking the same thoughts because he finally asked, 'Ryuk, where's your dæmon?'

Ryuk chuckled. 'Me? Nowhere.'

Mitsuchi shivered at what Ryuk had to say next.

'Shinigami don't have dæmons.'

* * *

**Light Yagami  
****Dæmon Name: **Mitsuchi  
**Meaning: **Light+wisdom/intellect  
**Form: **Eurasion Eagle Owl _(Bubo bubo)_

**Sayu Yagami  
****Dæmon Name: **Arata  
**Meaning: **Fresh/new  
**Form: **Unsettled

**Sachiko Yagami  
****Dæmon Name: **Haruko  
**Meaning: **Clear up/sun/sunlight+radiance/shine/life  
**Form: **West Highland White Terrier _(Canis lupis familiaris)_

**Ryuk  
****Dæmon Name: **N/A  
**Meaning: **N/A  
**Form: **N/A

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**Please review and tell me what you think!**


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